We were making good progress updating our $6 cabinets with primer and glossy white paint until the hurricane knocked out our power (update: thankfully it’s back on and we’ve never appreciated electricity more). The three-day outage stalled our cabinet work because John needs to do some building that requires electric tools like drills and saws before we can paint and reassemble everything in the office.
Luckily, we managed to complete all the prepping and priming before the outage and took lots of photos of the process. That meant we could share a detailed walkthrough for anyone refinishing solid wood cabinets — whether you’re turning them into a wall-to-wall built-in desk or simply refreshing kitchen cabinets. Note: this method is for solid wood only and won’t work on laminate cabinets.
We started by removing all hardware from the doors, then took the doors off along with the hinges. To protect the sunroom floor and walls from primer drips, paint splatter, and sanding dust, we hung two plastic drop cloths to create a containment area.
We separated the door handles and their screws into one plastic bag, and the hinges and associated screws for each cabinet into another bag. Using two bags keeps things organized so you don’t mix handle screws with hinge screws, and makes reassembly quicker and less confusing.
Next, I sanded each door by hand, starting with a coarse grit (around 50) to remove the gloss and then moving to a finer grit (about 200) to smooth the surface so primer and paint would adhere properly.
After the first round of coarse sanding I was exhausted and decided to use our electric sheet sander to speed things up. That made the job much easier even though the sander’s vibration left my hand a little numb. Sanding each of the six doors twice (coarse then fine) took about an hour total with the electric sander helping.
For the backs of the doors and the cabinet interiors, we decided to keep the natural wood finish rather than painting everything white. We like how wood interiors wear better over time and it complements a crisp white exterior. Some people prefer to paint both sides of the doors, but in our case we opted for painted fronts and unpainted backs so the wood remains durable where it’s handled most.
We laid three doors face up (sanded and primed) and three face down, and used Frog Tape around the edges of the ones facing down so the paint would stop cleanly where the wood finish begins. You can choose to tape both sides if you want painted backs as well, but we preferred durable unpainted backs-of-doors for this project.
After prepping the doors, I sanded the cabinet fronts and sides. Because these cabinets were staying indoors, I relied on the drop-cloth setup and the sander’s dust collection bag rather than moving everything outside. The sanding wasn’t nearly as dusty as I expected, and I made sure to rough up the frame edges where the doors would rub so the paint would adhere well.
For primer we chose a no-VOC option we’ve used successfully before: Kilz Clean Start. I applied a thin paper-like coat with a small foam roller to avoid brush strokes. Primer tends to look rough and uneven when first applied — that’s normal and actually desirable because it helps the topcoat bond to the surface.
I used a brush to reach the tight edges the roller couldn’t, making sure to remove excess paint from the brush rim so I applied only a thin, even coat. Then I rolled the door once more to smooth out any brush marks. Work one door at a time — roll the sides, brush the cracks, and re-roll the front while the paint is still wet. That way the roller won’t drag partially dried paint and you’ll get an even finish.
For the cabinet frames, instead of taping the entire interior, I carefully rolled the edges with very little paint on the roller to get a clean line between the painted exterior and the natural wood interior. That approach saved time and tape while still giving a neat transition.
After removing all hardware and hinges, sanding doors and frames, and applying primer, the room looked ready for paint. Some doors appeared lighter in certain spots where I’d sanded out scratches or imperfections; those areas show primer more prominently but will blend in after a few thin, even coats of topcoat paint.
Next we’ll cut three inches off the cabinets where needed, assemble them into three double cabinet bases in the office, and then apply the final 2–3 thin coats of paint once they’re in place to avoid dings during assembly and moving. We’ll attach doors and hardware after painting.
We’re still deciding on a countertop material — whether to use assembled planks, one large slab, or an alternative like an Ikea countertop — but we’ll make a plan soon so we can start using the new built-in desk. As always, we’ll share updates as we go.